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| North: End to Self-flagellation over Abu Ghraib "torture" |
| 2004-05-19 |
| EFL - included for the nice timeline of episodes of jihadi torture of Americans that involved practices other the "underwear on the head treatment." -snip- intro As shocking as this video is--and it is truly revolting in a way that churns your gut--it is nothing new. Radical Islamic jihadists have been perpetrating this kind of horror against Americans for more than 20 years. And, as if to substantiate the jihadist’s claims that it’s not their fault, the "blame America first" crowd in the U.S. media looks for ways to point out how we really deserve what we’re getting. Equally consistent, the Arab press parrots ours in ways that incite more violence while "leaders" in Islamic states remain mute--or worse, condone--the atrocities. On March 16, 1984, CIA Station Chief William Buckley was abducted and then tortured to death in a Beirut dungeon. I carried the agonizing photographs and tape recordings of his brutal beatings back to CIA Director William J. Casey. No Islamic leaders condemned the kidnapping and murder. The U.S. media rationalized his treatment as the consequence of being a CIA employee. On May 28, 1985, David Jacobsen, the administrator of the American University Hospital in Beirut, where most of the people treated were Muslims, was taken hostage on his way to work. No Islamic leaders denounced the perpetrators. After Jacobsen’s release in November 1986, his 18 months of torture were ignored by a U.S. media more intent on castigating the Reagan Administration for an "arms for hostages deal" than in punishing his captors. The same situation applied for all the other Beirut hostages. On February 17, 1988, Marine Col. William Higgins was kidnapped and subsequently murdered in Lebanon. Though the United Nations filed a complaint that one of their observers had been "taken," Islamic leaders were again unheard. When Colonel Higgins’ remains were finally recovered in 1991, the silence of the U.S. media was deafening. By 21 February 2002, when Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was butchered in Pakistan, the jihadists had moved to a new level. Photographs and audiotapes were deemed inadequate to depict the horror they intended to show us--and their adherents. Daniel Pearl’s murderers held him for a week--while they plotted his brutal murder--in front of a video camera. And while Islamic leaders were once again mute--this time the U.S. media responded to the horror. Danny Pearl was, after all, one of their own. The European press seized on this aspect of the atrocity and decried the heinous act as "an attack on freedom of the press." That Daniel Pearl was a Jewish American was hardly mentioned. -snip- Fallujah incident Days later, on 15 April, jihadists in Iraq released the videotaped murder of Fabrizio Quattrocchi, a 36-year old Italian. Though the press praised the courage of the young security guard facing certain death by proclaiming, "Now I’m going to show you how an Italian dies," members of the Euro-media immediately called for the withdrawal of "foreign troops from Iraq" and the resignation of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. It was a one or two-day story in the U.S. media. From Ramadi, Iraq, I looked in vain for any Islamic leader who would rise to denounce the assassins or condemn the killing. America is an odd society. A quarter of our population is upset that the price gas might impact summer vacation plans; another quarter of our population is screaming for the ouster of Bushitler; and another quarter is afraid that the knock on the trailer door might be an immigration agent. The final quarter is searching E-bay for a good deal on purchasing a gross of sling blades to ship to our troops. |
| Posted by:Super Hose |